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One of my favorite past times in Wisconsin during the 3 months of the year when water isn’t covered by 3 feet of ice is fishing (apparently some people actually attempt to do this task in the winter, but the whole things still seems kind of fishy to me). Until this course I had no idea how much motor development went into this seemingly simple task.

Apart from good wrist and finger speed needed in order to reel in the fish, one major aspect of the fishing is reaction time. Reaction time is utilized when setting the hook on a biting fish. In this case the fish taking the bait causes the bobber to go down, which is the stimulus. This stimulus needs to be identified and an appropriate response must be prepared and initiated to set the hook. Another thing to consider is which way the bobber appears to be moving. If the fish takes it to the left and you attempt to set the hook in the same direction you will just pull the bait right out of the fish’s mouth as opposed to snagging it’s lip. For this reason the reaction is a choice discrimination because you have multiple choices in which way you are going to set the hook and requires response orientation.

Welford’s model predicts that your reaction time should be longer at shorter SOAs. In terms of fishing I’ve found this to be true after a nibble. Once I know the fish is there and I’m paying strict attention to the bobber, I’m much more likely to successfully hook the fish when I have a bit more time to wait for the fish to take the bait then when I have quick consecutive bites. Additionally, when you know a fish is there after the first bite there’s a bit of temporal anticipation as you can see the bobber slowly moving across the water before the fish definitively takes it allowing for a more efficient reaction time.

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Study Tip: Stand up. Stretch. Go for a walk. Go to the airport. Get on a plane. Never Return.

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Study Tip: Stand up. Stretch. Go for a walk. Go to the airport. Get on a plane. Never Return.

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As much as I loathe it at times (... all the time) studying is a huge component in my life as a college student. Over the years I've tried many techniques to most effectively study for the dreaded exam season… pneumonic devices, flashcards, drawing pictures, notes under the pillow... I've done it all. After this semester in Motor Development I’ve learned a few ways I can maximize my learning and retention.

Most exams are implicit memory tests in which I’m asked to consciously call something to mind. The two types associated with this kind of memory are recall (short answer exams) and recognition (multiple choice exams). Since many of my classes involve the use of my declarative memory in memorizing facts and events, specifically my semantic memory, which is more generalized knowledge, I find it helps to give the information I’m studying more meaning. This can be done through more random methods of studying. Using flashcards to change up the topics as opposed to blocking the study to a single topic may prove to be beneficial. I’ve also hypothesized that writing notes with my non-dominant hand may make the information more meaningful to me and therefore be retained to a greater extent.

When doing 2 tasks simultaneously unless one is automatic, both cannot be done to 100 percent efficiency so to effectively study I need to put forth a narrow internal attentional focus on just one thing. Lastly, I’ve found that when cramming immediately before an exam it helps to chunk topics. By chunking the information I allow myself to add more information to my short-term memory. This technique improves my short-term memory, which only allows for about 7+ or – 2 things to be stored at any one time.

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Running is a mental sport... And we're all INSANE

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Running is a mental sport... And we're all INSANE

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As a child growing up I was as dedicated a basketball player as you could find. I trained for numerous hours a day on developing both my basketball skills as well as my athletic abilities. One athletic ability I was particularly focused on was my vertical jump, which I became quite proficient at. With this increased leaping ability I decided to see if these skills would transfer to a different area and went out for track and field to be a high jumper.

When competing in the high jump I frequently used mental imagery to gain an edge on competition. I followed Singers 5 step learning strategy, which integrated both mental and physical practice. These steps included getting ready physically, emotionally, and mentally which I did by getting “in the zone” listening to music and trying to mentally relax before competition. I mentally imagined myself soaring over the bar and winning the event. Additionally, I concentrated on a few critical cues like making sure that I arched my back and properly kicked my feet back as I went over the bar.

The next step was to execute the movement. I did really well at all aspects of high jump up until this step… The last step was to evaluate my performance where I came to the conclusion that the skills in two-footed basketball jumping did not transfer well to one footed high jump and I should probably just stick to basketball.

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As a self-proclaimed health enthusiast, certified personal trainer, UW Recreational Sports Olympic lifting coach, small group fitness instructor... ok you get it, I like to work out.  One form of resistance training I regularly partake in that particularly plays into many of the concepts we've discussed through out the semester is the multi-step Olympic lifts. Shown to the left is a picture of 3 of the steps associated with the serial skill of a clean and jerk exercise. This exercise is a true test of explosive strength as it requires me to expend maximal energy in one explosive movement in order to propel the bar from the ground to a racked position on my shoulders and then finally to an overhead position.

Since the clean and jerk is a relatively complex lift it helped me when first learning it to break it into parts. I first focused on just the set up and the correct placement of my body parts including feet, hips, head and hands. Once I got this down I progressed on to learn the pull and clean portion of the exercise. Then I finally finished with learning the pressing movement. When I became proficient in all of these moves separately I was able to integrate whole part practicing into my regiment and practice the entire lift.

Upon first starting the whole part practice though I still had to think about the movements while I did them. I was in Fitt’s cognitive stage of learning. In this phase it helped me to emphasize location cues and reflect on how different parts of my body felt at different spatial positions following a perfect lift. This allowed me to better stock these feelings into my procedural memory, which is specialized to store information for specific skills. As the movement became more natural to me I was able to think about it less and progress to the associative stage and after months of practice I finally entered the autonomous stage where the movement is natural and I now don’t have to think about it at all.

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Wisconsin's Jump Around vs. Ohio State 2016

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Although the actual feat of repeatedly jumping up and down in a stationary position doesn’t necessarily resemble a typical day-to-day activity for me, it does represent something that is very characteristic of who I am, and that is a student at the UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON. After all, what’s more UW-Madisonesque then Jump Around!

Though, “America’s greatest college sports tradition” wasn’t always an easy task for myself. Unlike some of my friends, it took years of practice to build the balance, coordination, and muscular endurance to be able to continuously jump on top of the thin, swaying, bleachers, while getting bumped and pushed by hundreds of rowdy badger fans at Camp Randall. This discrepancy between us may have been due to individual differences with my friends just having inherently better motor skills for the task of jumping in place. According to Fleishman’s taxonomy of physical proficiency abilities these people were likely gifted in gross body coordination, equilibrium, and stamina. Even though I wasn’t able to train my abilities, which are unmodifiable, I was able to improve my skills in this regard through practice.

One factor that increased the level of difficulty of this task (besides being packed into tiny bleachers with numerous other people), was everyone else jumping around you. This acted to induce a degree of exproprioception. This occurred due to others around me jumping up while I was grounded giving the illusion that I was moving down and the same effect vice versa when they were coming down. Additionally, with being packed so tightly into the crowd of people you often times couldn’t see anything besides the head of the person in front of you. This factor made gross body equilibrium, or the ability to maintain total body balance in the absence of vision, extremely important in the success of the skill.